The Wire star Isiah Whitlock Jr. has died at at age of 71 following a short illness.
Whitlock is known as a prolific character actor and is perhaps most identified with his role of Clay Davis on the iconic HBO series, The Wire.
He also frequently collaborated with director Spike Lee, appearing in the Spike Lee joints She Hate Me, 25th Hour, Red Hook Summer, Chi-Raq, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods.
Whitlock’s manager, Brian Liebman, confirmed the news of Whitlock’s death on Instagram, writing, “It is with tremendous sadness that I share the passing of my dear friend and client Isiah Whitlock Jr. If you knew him – you loved him. A brilliant actor and even better person. May his memory forever be a blessing. Our hearts are so broken. He will be very, very missed.”
In recent years, Whitlock also recurred in HBO’s Veep and starred in Showtime’s Your Honor, Netflix’s The Good Cop, and Netflix’s The Residence.
He has at least one posthumous project coming up, one of them being the Pixar animated film, Hoppers. He was also filming the upcoming film The Body Is Water this year.